“I don’t think I’m dreaming,” Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler, Balls of Fury) says upon seeing the magical creatures for the first time. “I don’t got the brains to make this up.”
While Kowalski, a No-Maj — the American term for Muggle — living in 1920s New York City might not have the brains to dream up this reality, the creator of this wonderful wizarding world does.
J.K. Rowling dazzles us once again in her screenwriting debut, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, out everywhere Friday.
The film, inspired by Rowling’s book of the same name, serves as a reintroduction to the universe we all know and love.
Rowling teams up with director David Yates (the same David Yates who directed the Harry Potter films from Order of the Phoenix onward) to send us on a journey full of familiar spells, potions and magic.
While Rowling and Yates do an incredible job bringing this universe back to the big screen, it’s the acting that carries the film.
Eddie Redmayne (The Danish Girl) gives us another lovably awkward wizard to worship in the form of Newt Scamander, the eccentric Ministry of Magic employee who finds himself in New York having to round up all of his escaped magical creatures. However, Scamander isn’t all awkward; he shines when he is with his magical creatures, and this is something that Redmayne conveys well.
While Redmayne’s Scamander and Fogler’s Kowalski hold the camera’s attention for most of the film, it is Ezra Miller (Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice) who captures the audience with his portrayal of Credence Barebone.
Miller expertly conveys both fear and the fight or flight mentalities that characterize Credence throughout the film. Credence cowers next to the overpowering Percival Graves, played by Colin Farrell (Horrible Bosses), and Mary Lou Barebone, played by Samantha Morton (The Messenger) — but Miller succeeds in making his character stand out nonetheless.
Other standout performances include Katherine Waterston as Tina Goldstein and Alison Sudol as her sister, Queenie. Sudol provides the comic relief to juxtapose the dark tone of the film, characteristic of the Harry Potter films.
The star-studded cast — there is also a cameo from Johnny Depp — isn’t the only thing that the film has going for it. There are also stunning visuals and the obvious emotional pull for viewers who dedicated much of their childhoods to Harry Potter.
The visuals of the film are captivating from the beginning. The scenes inside the Magical Congress of the United States of America, remind viewers of its similarly extravagant British counterpart, the Ministry of Magic. The MACUSA has memos that travel by themselves and golden statues that move, both things seen inside the Ministry.
Outside the MACUSA the visuals continue to amaze, with creatures that fans of the Harry Potter universe have only heard of coming to life right before their eyes.
Fantastic Beasts takes elements from the Harry Potter films and brings them to life all over again. While it does use a lot of borrowed elements, the film makes the wizarding world its own. By bringing the wizarding world to New York, the film explores new territory that has yet to be seen in the Harry Potter universe.
Watching Fantastic Beasts, I was reminded of the first time I saw Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone after reading the books. Everything inside my imagination was coming to life on the screen in front of me again.
Fantastic Beasts will make anyone feel like a kid reading or watching Harry Potter for the first time. The film pulls the heartstrings of viewers while reminding them what it feels like to be a kid again. It exceeds all expectations.
4/4 Shells
